Quick question on transtioning DJs

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

Quick question on transtioning DJs

I was just randomly thinking, When it comes to transitioning DJs, does it matter if one is using serato and one is using traktor?

thx

2

nope.

3

+1

4

just be ready to rock out when the other guy is done, but dont get in his face plugging your gear in (i hate that)

5

haha ya for sure! I wasnt sure if when using the same gear and changing out your laptop if the ‘internal modes’ in serato and traktor worked the same.

6

It is a pain in the ass to swap systems completely. Lots of messing with wires at the wrong time. Getting in the other dj’s way. etc.

It cant be helped sometimes though, last time I played the cdj’s were hooked up to serato & the techs to my Traktor, that was an easier transition.

Then Andy C came along and took a good 15 mins to hook up his 3 deck traktor setup. But he’s allowed to, he costs more. lol.

7

but in general if the two DJs are using the same gear, the transitions between laptops (whether or not they use different digital DJ programs) is pretty easy right?

8

It really depends on how it’s set up and on how well both people know their gear. The goal is a seamless transition; if one person has serato plugged into the mixer and you come along with Traktor, best thing is get the serato person to play a long song on one deck, and unplug the other deck and plug your sound card output into that input. Mix into the playing song and you’re good to go, and they can take their time getting their gear out of the way. If you’re using TSP it’s a bit more complicated as you need to get into the other deck too, but you can play a long song and let them clear out of the way before you have to get your second deck plugged in. Obviously this goes a lot smoother if you know exactly which wires go where when, so practice a few times at home before you stumble into the dj booth.

And yeah try to avoid getting into the playing DJ’s face or asking them to please play a song at 130 bpm so you can mix into it, or whatever. DJs hate that sorta thing… :wink:

9

I’ve always found it easiest to bring a CD or two (I use Traktor) and mix out of the last DJs song using a CDJ. Then once it’s just me, plug in my laptop etc, and I’m good to go.

10

so just to make sure I’m understanding this (I use an S4 so I’ve never had to worry about a transition)
The guy with Serato puts his last (long) track on, than I come in with Traktor and my Audio 4 or w/e hook up the open channel to my audio 4 and beatmatch a new song. than the serato guy unhooks his second channel and I plug in and rock the house lol?

Do I have this right?

btw Im not planning on transitioningwith another DJ anytime soon I am just feeding my curiosity

11

yeah that’s pretty much right, though if you have an S4, you just need to plug in and you’re done. When Serato-DJ is on the last song, plug your outputs into the other channel of the mixer and get on with it. They can take their time packing up since you won’t need to plug anything else in. But you also said Audio 4; if you want to mix externally, you’ll need to plug in the other channel too. But if you’re mixing on the S4, it’s pretty straightforward.

12

That’s the one thing i used to love about the S4 - just 2 cables into the back of the mixer and that’s it.

+1 on taking a CD - it’s probably one of the best things you can do - have a long track on cd, mix into that - then you got all the time to start swapping wires.